BRATTLEBORO — I do not know the depth of suffering felt by my Black and Brown friends and neighbors in our community, but I mourn for them deeply.
I can say I do know how raw and broken I felt when Christine Blasey Ford spoke for survivors like myself who never got justice and how the person who assaulted her was protected by those in power and compounded her trauma with the dismissal of her experience and questioning of her character.
I remember how hopeful I felt with the #MeToo movement and how healing it would have been if survivors were really heard and believed by those who created laws to protect victims (unlike that one that allowed my rapist to go free) and where status played no role in who is determined to be telling the truth and who isn't.
What I am grateful for is that experience heightened my understanding of the potency of a movement where individuals who have been victimized are finally given an opportunity to be heard. To know how raw and vulnerable it feels to pull up a painful - even traumatic - experience.
It is a leap of faith that, if joined with other shared voices, there might just be enough volume to be heard and validated so that things could actually shift.
I also realize having allies standing up and speaking out is like a salve to one's wounds. Messages like “I hear you” and “I believe you” and “I mourn for you” or “I stand by you” can lessen the pain and keep us strong.
For me, I found I learned that real healing comes from transformation, internally and collectively.
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In our conversation about our police department, I want to say that I don't just strongly believe that transformation is possible, I feel compelled to share that I have personally witnessed it myself under Chief Mike Fitzgerald's leadership. I have seen the chief and his staff address addiction with progressive attitudes and creative, collaborative solutions.
I want to be clear that I am aware that the topics of sexual assault and substance-use disorder is not the same as racial equity - although racial inequities abound in how policies and laws are applied in these areas, too, directly targeting and disproportionately affecting those who are Black and Brown.
What is most important here is to recognize that it takes compassionate leadership to address many issues - in particular, racial inequity - and I have witnessed the chief show consistent intention and commitment as a leader to listen, to learn, to acknowledge, to understand, to shift, to grow, and to commit to not only serving those who are most vulnerable to the system he leads but to working beside those individuals to collaborate on solutions and to build mutual trust - all of which is the kind of leadership we very much need right now.
The chief is not only open-minded and willing to learn (and unlearn), but he also puts what he learns into action.
When early on, in his first year in his role he learned about medication-assisted treatment (suboxone/methadone), he immediately required his staff to drive those in custody receiving treatment to get their daily dosage.
Since then, his department has joined the nationwide Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, and he started Project CARES with social service organizations and, very importantly, with peer-recovery coaches, some of whom had been in the backseat of their cruisers.
To this day, I have found that he continues to be committed to this transformation and sees the learning process as not ever being done, but as an ongoing process.
Again, speaking from my own work: We all know the stigma and discrimination experienced by those who are overtaken by addiction and even afterward by those who have recovered. The chief saw the suffering of these individuals and the flaws of the system, which he leads, that can harm them and he committed himself to protecting them and advocating for them, even as a leader within that system.
I believe the chief can and will do the same here, in partnership with those most affected in our community. As someone who works directly with and for those who are vulnerable and often feel persecuted, I am glad they live in a town where they are cared about so deeply by our chief and a system that has been adjusted, under his stewardship, to try to address their vulnerabilities and needs.
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We are not Atlanta. We are not Missouri. We are a small but mighty community with leaders who are willing to learn and unlearn and really care about all of us as individuals.
Give them a chance to show you how they will listen and take action in line with your feedback. Our chief is listening, he is empathizing, and he is standing by those who suffer, so that he can ensure the system he leads truly addresses their concerns and the concerns of the community at large.
We have a great opportunity here to become a transformed community. We will need impacted and informed people, in addition to funding and training, to drive these solutions.
It is important to know who and what we actually have beyond our town staff and leadership to make this happen. But please recognize, we have our best chance at doing so by working together, by bringing more voices to the table to discuss what is working and what is not working, and to identify the most feasible and impactful solutions - and, most of all, by working with our chief and the compassionate leaders of our town, who are listening.
I know I am personally committed to taking part as an ally and as a resource. I sincerely hope that we will seek these solutions together - as a community.